title: [Penicillin in clinical use--50 years].
abstract: Penicillin was first used to combat experimental infections in rats in August 1940. Towards the end of December the same year it was decided to treat seriously ill patients with penicillin. The first patient was given the new drug on the 12 February 1941, nearly 50 years ago. The patient improved considerably, but due to shortage of penicillin later succumbed to staphylococcal sepsis. Penicillins are still the most widely used and least toxic antibiotics. This article briefly reviews the history of penicillin from its discovery in 1928 to 1944, when the drug was first used on a larger scale in Norwegians.
authors.affiliation: Medisinsk avdeling B, Rikshospitalet, Oslo.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Madsen
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Midtvedt
mesh_terms: D049673:History, 20th Century; D008131:London; D009664:Norway; D010406:Penicillins / Q000266:history*
chemical_list: D010406:Penicillins
vernacular_title: Penicillin i klinisk bruk--50 år.